When viewing a large list of items on an electronic device, a user typically needs to be able to refine the list of items to reflect certain criteria. One way to refine a list of items is by sorting and filtering the list to meet criteria specified by the user. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) typically provide components for filtering operations. However, an electronic device responsible for displaying and filtering the list may have limited screen space due to constraints of the device itself, or due to the on-screen element containing the list. In such a case, efficiently filtering a list becomes difficult and confusing due to the continuous change of context resulting from multiple views or numerous GUI components. Compact electronic devices, such as mobile phones and PDAs, have small screens with little display space to accomplish any task.